Johan Bruyneel already knows the 2026 Vuelta a España podium: 'That’s ideal for Pogačar'

While the winner of the sixth stage of the Vuelta a España wasn't a surprise, the way the race unfolded certainly was. Tadej Pogac3ar claimed his third stage victory in six days, but Enric Mas put up a strong fight. The Spaniard caught up to the Slovenian on the climb, something no one has managed to do in a long time. After less than a week, Johan Bruyneel already knows what the final podium will look like.

Mas caught up to Pogacar just before the top of the final climb. “I heard there was a miscommunication,” Bruyneel says in his podcast THEMOVE. “Pogačar said he had information about Roglic and Gall, but then Mas flew past him. He said he was completely surprised.” Pogačar then nearly crashed on the descent, but rode alongside Mas to the finish and easily beat the Spaniard in the sprint.

But Bruyneel was impressed by Mas. “He’s an incredibly talented rider. He’s had a few years where he’s had bad luck, where the season didn’t go according to plan. But if you look back, you’ll see that he’s finished second three times and third once in the Vuelta, and has placed in the top six eight times in a Grand Tour. He gets a lot of criticism from Spain for not attacking, but when you achieve results like that, it’s impressive in itself.”

Is the Vuelta about to get exciting again? “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. If Enric Mas is now Pogačar’s biggest rival in the mountain stages, he just needs to stay with him and gain time in the final kilometer,” says the Belgian. Moreover, he sees a strong Mas as an advantage for the red jersey wearer. “Mas will keep riding to gain time on the others. That’s ideal for Pogacar.”

Mas and Pogac3ar gained 46 seconds on the next chasing group, which included general classification contenders such as Richard Carapaz, Primož Roglič, and Felix Gall. Pogačar currently leads the general classification, ahead of Mas and Roglič. “I think that’s the Vuelta podium,” says Bruyneel. “I don’t know in what order, but they’ll be on the podium.”

He thinks Roglic has a better chance than Gall of making it onto the podium. The Slovenian crashed before the Vuelta, but doesn’t seem to be bothered by that collision with a car. “I think Roglič is only going to get better. He’ll gain more and more confidence. But we can’t count Felix Gall out. He’s a good climber, even though he was out of position. But he had strong legs today.”

Gall had to come from far behind, but managed to catch up with the first group of pursuers. Others, however, were less fortunate. “We were missing two riders today: Oscar Onley and Sepp Kuss. They couldn’t keep up on this climb and lost a minute and a half,” said Bruyneel. Onley and Kuss ultimately lost 1:38 to Pogacar and dropped significantly in the general classification.